0:00

I

0:00

really do believe that though about, like, everybody's

0:02

like, oh, Twitter's so horrible now and you're like, wasn't

0:04

it always?

0:05

I think it's just slightly more

0:07

hate speech buzzwords. Right?

0:09

The fact that Elon Musk has it now,

0:11

he basically to me, he bought a toilet. Mhmm.

0:14

And you said the problem with this toilet is people

0:16

Don't shit enough in it.

0:18

And you're like, what?

0:39

Hello, everybody. Welcome once again in the podcast.

0:41

It's called the problem with me, John Stewart.

0:44

the show is currently Apple TV plus season two.

0:46

We are joined as always by a couple

0:48

of our writers today. We've got Jay Jordan and Alexa

0:50

long are gonna be joining us. Hello? Today,

0:53

we're gonna be talking to congresswoman Katie Porter,

0:55

California, the podcast who is just

0:58

such a clear and concise

1:00

an effective communicator. Here I

1:02

say a star. A star. I've never

1:05

seen someone whose choice of weaponry is

1:07

a whiteboard and a dry erase marker, and

1:09

she's sliced. Those things are

1:11

sharp. By the way, Marvel has that superhero

1:13

coming out. So Oh, yeah. board. It's

1:16

incredible. They White board well, I'm glad

1:18

they finally got back from all the woke superhero.

1:20

That's fine. Unfortunately,

1:22

the whiteboard superhero is being played

1:25

by a lesbian, Sufi Muslim. Oh.

1:27

Yeah. So they're really They're they're

1:29

digging in as all things

1:31

go along. Guys, what's

1:34

going down?

1:35

Okay. So

1:38

Oh, boy. No. Wait minute.

1:39

Oh, I hear that. I found it

1:41

not positive. Did you hear that

1:43

collective sign? That was That was

1:45

really like, what's going on? And I just

1:48

heard, so Well,

1:52

I don't know if you heard, but Papa

1:55

Pelosi.

1:56

Nancy Pelosi's husband was attacked.

1:58

Yeah. In a beautiful

1:59

neighborhood in San

2:02

Francisco of all places, you

2:04

got a view of the bridge, the bay,

2:06

the stunning island of Alcatraz. Alexa,

2:09

are you moving? Are you? Right.

2:12

Are are you going into real estate? What's happening

2:14

here? Well, we're talking about the escalation

2:16

of violence in this country. We're talking about

2:18

the escalation of political ideology. Like,

2:21

strongly becoming like acts of

2:23

violence against political figures in

2:25

such a brazen fashion

2:28

And then the spin afterwards,

2:30

like it's so fucked up. But that that's

2:32

the part that I think is so difficult is that everything

2:35

has to be a bellwether. And I think

2:37

now, no matter what story you watch,

2:40

you

2:40

think to yourself, like, don't let it be one of

2:42

our guys. It's gotta be one of the other guys. If it's one of the other

2:44

guys, then we're gonna jump in, but how are we gonna defang

2:46

it if it is one of our guys. And then it's

2:48

this really bizarre calculation that

2:51

even that, even

2:54

violence and deviance against

2:57

a public figure has to be seen

2:59

as a bellwether

3:00

of something leading to,

3:03

you know, is it about crime?

3:05

Is it about terrorism? Is it about The

3:08

one thing that I will say is this though, wouldn't

3:11

it be nice? because this clearly, this

3:13

is a person with

3:15

deep deep mental issues -- Yeah. -- and

3:17

arranged. but

3:18

wouldn't it be nice if

3:20

the online rantings of

3:23

a mentally ill or deranged individual

3:26

didn't sound so much

3:28

like the points of certain

3:30

media outlets. It's basically verbatim

3:32

Tucker Carlson. Hi. and it's

3:35

not even removed.

3:37

It's not even, like, oh, this is a

3:39

escalation. It's not the reference. through

3:42

a diseased mind and it comes out differently.

3:44

It's not even synonyms. It's exact.

3:46

Mhmm. And how fucked up is that? It's

3:48

super fucked up because, like you said,

3:50

it turns it into Team Sports. We're like,

3:52

oh, it it can't be one of our guys.

3:54

Like, that's wild. That's crazy.

3:57

We're talking about a eighty something year old man getting

3:59

hit in the head with the hammer having

4:01

his skull fracture. This is one degree

4:03

of separation from the person third

4:05

in line to be the president.

4:08

And

4:09

the

4:10

the other side of this is people

4:12

go, oh, well, isn't it kind of funny that now

4:14

we can turn to like a gay conspiracy rumor?

4:17

Right. And that goes like lightning.

4:19

And as soon as the truth comes out, the

4:21

whole temperature of it comes down because it can

4:23

no longer be used as

4:25

a fulcrum in the

4:27

culture war. It it's no longer a pivot

4:29

point anymore to allow

4:32

anyone to score. Yeah.

4:34

And as soon as that's gone, well then

4:36

it's just an older gentleman

4:39

IN A HOSPITAL ICU TRYING

4:42

TO RECOVER FROM A HAMMER ATTACK AND

4:44

WHO CARES ABOUT THAT? TERR. Adrienne:

4:45

AT A MINUM, I JUST WISH everyone

4:48

could be like, yes. This

4:50

is

4:50

fucked up. But you know what, Anjali, you had to say,

4:52

oh, his Halloween costume. Oh, here's a funny

4:54

gay joke. I'll say this as a queer person.

4:56

We were busy this weekend. It was Halloween.

4:59

We had to dress up as slutty Spider

5:01

Man. We had a lot of things. Right.

5:03

Sluggish Spider Man. He's already kinda

5:05

slutty. The the custom is so tight,

5:07

Jay, that that is redundant. Jack, I don't think

5:09

Mark Hales. I'll Jack, I'll see you some

5:11

links. We

5:14

have shit to do. It's so and

5:16

it's like poisonous because then you're

5:18

just laughing. What I I

5:20

will say this though,

5:21

that their life is so

5:24

myopic at this point that

5:25

that is all it is focused on. And that's

5:28

the danger of it is it has

5:30

subsumed everything that could have

5:32

been good

5:33

about their lives. And

5:35

it's all consumed by

5:37

this

5:38

this battle. that

5:40

they're waging, that, like you say, so

5:42

many other people are just looking around

5:44

at Spider

5:45

Man's crotch. That's I didn't

5:48

wanna Not a bad way to go. And it's disseminated

5:50

and it's disseminated on

5:52

Twitter. That's that's the other part

5:54

of this. Like, okay. Well, that's now the

5:57

I mean, Twitter is the methodology by

5:59

which

5:59

all of this gets disseminated in an instant.

6:02

And we still haven't yet adjusted to

6:05

what that

6:06

social media mainstream is doing

6:08

to our foundational brains. I

6:10

think it's bad. You're right? I'm

6:12

sorry, do you think it's bad? I

6:15

don't think we're well. What? Let me ask you

6:17

guys this because there's a lot of talk now

6:19

about Elon Musk has taken over Twitter

6:21

and, my God, it's already happening.

6:23

Mhmm. And it does strike me a

6:25

little bit of how dare Elon

6:27

Musk turn this shit hole

6:29

into a cesspool. Like,

6:33

John, before he got that, I I hate to say

6:35

it, but Twitter is a shit hole. It's

6:37

a cesspool to begin with. Would

6:39

you pay forty four billion dollars for,

6:41

like, I don't know, a bathroom stall at

6:43

a rest stop? Depends. So

6:45

I would pay thirty eight to forty billion.

6:47

You know, my ceiling on when I was trying to buy

6:49

Twitter, I said to them. Thirty eight

6:51

billion is kind of it's already

6:53

over my budget. I budgeted thirty seven

6:55

billion. So it was

6:58

yeah.

6:58

I think Musk he wants to

7:00

turn Twitter into his own fight

7:02

club. Well,

7:03

III think it's to a certain

7:05

extent what what he suffers

7:07

from is is I think what Catania is

7:09

suffering from and all that, which is I don't know if it's

7:11

sexism orism, but it's certainly narcissism.

7:14

And there is I think what he enjoys

7:16

the most about it is

7:18

the hallelujahs. This

7:21

There was the next day on Twitter, there a

7:23

lot of Hallelujah. Finally,

7:26

and I was looking through and was like, nope. Same

7:28

shitty people that were there. Like,

7:30

it's always been shitty. I don't understand why.

7:33

he's a corn ball. I'll say

7:35

this because he wants to be a bashing of

7:37

free speech. He's a fucking corny loser.

7:40

He wants to be a hero. He wants to

7:42

be talked about. He

7:44

wants to control things. But I don't

7:46

think he wants to be a

7:48

a bastion of free speech. That's never

7:50

There's nothing that he's demonstrated in

7:53

his career other than

7:56

trolling on Twitter that demonstrates

7:58

an allegiance to free speech. Certainly

8:00

Tesla is not his companies

8:02

are not bastions of free speech. So why

8:04

would people who think that free

8:06

speech means governance by trolling that

8:08

like this sort of like a lie.

8:10

That's what it is. To them, free speech

8:12

is the use of the inward jumped

8:14

up I don't know how many percentages when

8:16

he was brought on. It's him

8:18

bringing There was use of it already.

8:21

Like, I gotta tell you within I joined Twitter

8:23

and twenty seconds later, he was like, hey, man.

8:25

Welcome. What's up? What took you

8:27

so long? And then, like, the fifth comment was,

8:29

hey, Leibowitz. Right? Hey,

8:31

God. But this was John,

8:34

those people are happy

8:37

because of this. They're not happy. I

8:39

didn't say, hey, you're miserable. I said

8:41

happy year, but because of Elon Musk?

8:43

Yes. Well, that well, that was the thing. There was

8:45

that gleeful like, oh my god. Now we

8:47

can finally be shitty on Twitter and you're

8:49

like, we've been shitty. know, we keep saying

8:51

like, I want it to be the town square and you're like, it's

8:53

times square. It's not the town

8:55

square. It's a couple of people saying nice

8:57

things, maybe trying to go get tickets to

8:59

kinky boots, and then it's a a grown

9:01

man dressed as Elmo kicking the shit out of a guy

9:03

from Nebraska who's just coming out of the M and M

9:05

store. Like, that's really and

9:07

bad news Elmo has

9:09

bed bugs. Like, it's You're taking them

9:11

back to Nebraska with you.

9:13

But it it was always

9:15

to some extent that because That's

9:17

who we are. The internet is

9:20

just a place for people to make

9:22

sure that no one is

9:24

happier than its least happy

9:27

person. That good job. Oh, this.

9:29

Have you, John? I don't know if you know about this. There was

9:31

literally a tweet where one was like, man, my

9:33

husband liked to have coffee in the morning.

9:35

We take our time. We enjoy our

9:37

space. And this is like a very

9:39

benign positive happy

9:41

marriage tweet. every tweet under it

9:43

was like, how dare you showcase your

9:45

privilege by having mornings off? Do you know there are people that

9:47

don't break off at this time? Like, it's

9:49

Wait. Are you is this just a real is a

9:51

real story. still a hundred percent real story.

9:54

Somebody posted, like, I'm having coffee with my

9:56

husband. Yeah. We love to have coffee. We love to have coffee. We

9:58

love to do that. And everybody was like, fuck

10:00

you. Yes. Get

10:02

out. I can't make that shit up.

10:04

That's what he per he spent forty

10:06

four billion dollars on that. But

10:08

when are we gonna realize that this is

10:11

what every time there is a

10:13

leap in

10:14

sort of a communications technology,

10:16

the world falls apart until

10:18

it adjusts to it. It happened when radio came out,

10:20

it happened with TV, it happened with the Gutenberg

10:23

press for God Sakes. It

10:25

changes the dynamic of the human

10:27

brain and its ability to take

10:29

in. Twitter is not a bastion of

10:31

woke politics. It's a bastion

10:33

of people waiting to

10:35

pounce of all stripes,

10:37

of all persuasions, whether

10:39

it's liberal, right wing,

10:42

whether it's BTS

10:43

fans, high restyle fans,

10:46

like, it is just a play.

10:48

Don't you get us in trouble with the arm?

10:50

Don if

10:52

you get me in South Korea in

10:54

trouble. Wow. Finally,

10:56

Elon will put a stop to all that.

10:58

Guys, Speaking of all that, you

11:00

know, in terms of communication, we're

11:02

gonna be talking to right now, if I could a brand

11:04

new congresswoman Katie Porter,

11:06

who I don't know if you saw

11:08

The other day, she did a presentation on

11:11

inflation that finally

11:13

broke down some of the information about

11:15

what's behind some of this And I

11:17

think do we have that? Can we show

11:19

that? According to this

11:20

chart, what is the biggest

11:23

driver of inflation

11:24

during the pandemic. The

11:26

blue is the the dark blue is the

11:28

recent period. It would

11:30

be corporate profits. And what is that

11:32

percentage? it is fifty four percent

11:34

and that number does stay that level of

11:36

high if you update that number to more recent

11:38

numbers as well. So over half

11:40

of the increased prices people

11:42

are paying are

11:44

coming from increases in

11:46

corporate profits. Yes. Now

11:48

inflation is covered twenty four hours a day as it

11:50

should be. You've got the feds saying the only

11:52

thing that can stop it is interest rates. And

11:54

then you have Congresswoman Katie Porter comes out

11:56

and goes, well, if you actually if you break it

11:58

down, the company the

11:59

company is. corporate

12:01

profits play. Not the whole thing, but nobody

12:03

fucking covered it. Okay. Got it. Right? because if

12:05

you just say the buzzword inflation, people go, oh,

12:07

yeah, inflation. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

12:09

inflation. Right. But when someone says this corporate

12:11

profit, you go, wait a second. Right. So maybe

12:13

we don't have to cause a catastrophic recession

12:16

to get it under control, but God

12:19

forbid anybody discusses that. So let let's

12:21

we've got Katie Porter. She's gonna come and and

12:23

the congresswoman's been nice enough to come and

12:25

talk to us. You know what, if you guys alive tweet it because you

12:27

could do that now. because hallelujah, it's been freed.

12:29

I'm gonna say whatever I want. The dumpster

12:31

fire is now a forest fire. Wow.

12:35

Alright.

12:39

Well,

12:41

first of all, congresswoman, welcome.

12:44

Thank

12:44

you. We're delighted to to be able to

12:46

speak with you before we even get started.

12:49

Tuesday is is Election Day,

12:51

in in your district, how are things

12:54

out there for you? What's what's the

12:56

situation? This

12:56

race is a dead heat. It's gonna be a

12:59

toss-up, and I think that people

13:01

are sometimes surprised to hear that. I

13:03

am surprised to

13:03

hear that. Well, we

13:04

have seen this happening around the country. Some of

13:07

these suburban districts in bluer

13:09

states So places in

13:11

Washington, in Oregon, New Jersey, in

13:13

California. These are really gonna

13:15

be battlegrounds. So my race was just

13:17

moved to a toss-up, which is not the news

13:19

you wanna wake up to one week

13:21

before election day, but I was

13:23

also out this morning, you know,

13:25

putting up flyers and getting ready to

13:27

canvas and knocked doors. So I am gonna

13:29

work my butt off

13:29

to make sure that we win in a in a week

13:31

from now. Here's here's why I find that incredibly

13:34

surprising. You are

13:36

and have been one

13:37

of the most effective communicators

13:41

and

13:41

legislators for economic

13:45

issues that I

13:47

have seen in

13:48

in the last twenty years in

13:51

congress. The the clarity in

13:53

which you are able to illustrate

13:56

the different points of of our

13:58

economy and how it's skewed

13:59

and corrupt. I'm always really

14:02

impressed by so let me ask you a question. Do

14:04

your voters have c span?

14:06

So

14:07

this is a great point. There's two points

14:09

I wanna make here. One is -- Sure. -- at

14:11

that sort of a simple point. nine

14:13

million dollars in

14:15

Republican super PAC

14:17

ads that have been

14:19

answered

14:21

by three

14:22

hundred thousand dollars of

14:25

Democratic mailers. That's

14:27

a big gulf. That's eight point seven million

14:29

dollars in negative messaging that

14:31

they're

14:31

hearing about me. This is

14:32

the National Committee -- Right.

14:34

-- Republicans and and other SPACs

14:37

impact.

14:37

So the National Republican committees have

14:40

spent nine million dollars, and the

14:42

Democrats have answered that three

14:44

hundred thousand. So that's gonna have an effect.

14:47

Any which way you cut it? Straight up. Could

14:48

the Democratic committee get you that money?

14:51

Sure, they

14:51

could. sure they could. But they're having they're making

14:54

decisions all over the map. They're prioritizing

14:56

different people and different races, and there's a

14:58

complex map to do that. So

15:00

look,

15:00

I always

15:01

wanna make sure that I can do my part to

15:04

help elect Democrats everywhere,

15:06

that there are good Democrats on the ballot.

15:08

And so I'm I'm working to stand on my

15:10

own two feet here and deliver this race myself

15:12

with the help by the way of all of my

15:14

grassroots supporters and people who knocked doors

15:16

for me and chip in. But the second point I wanna

15:18

make, which I think is a really interesting one is you

15:20

said, do your viewers have C

15:21

SPAN? And the answer of course is,

15:23

sure. but not sitting in home

15:25

all day watching it because they have jobs

15:27

and kids and pines and -- Right. --

15:29

and mutes. So one of the

15:31

things that I think people don't know about

15:33

politics that I really struggle

15:35

with is we are not allowed under

15:37

the house ethics rules to

15:40

use footage

15:41

of us doing our jobs

15:45

in our campaigns. So I

15:47

can't show

15:48

viewers. Wait. What?

15:49

Yes. So if I question a

15:52

witness about inflation, if I

15:54

push the CDC director and get us free

15:56

testing, if I

15:58

whole Jamie Diamond's feet to the

16:00

fire about employee pay. Just to

16:02

name a few, I can't use

16:04

those clips that footage of me

16:06

actually doing my job well. to get

16:08

elected. And of course, the only reason

16:10

people should vote for anyone, Democrat

16:12

Republican or otherwise, is if they think they're gonna

16:14

do a good job. but not allowed to

16:16

show people me actually

16:18

doing a good job. Instead, the

16:20

commercials have to be filled with you know footage

16:22

of me walking through a happy meadow or

16:24

whatever. So That is

16:26

one of the real burdens we face.

16:28

Congresswoman, let me let me just see if I can get

16:30

a handle on this. You're not

16:33

allowed to show footage of yourself doing a

16:35

job. but representatives

16:37

in the House and senators are

16:39

allowed to use insider information

16:42

to trade stocks. Right.

16:44

That is allowed.

16:45

The House Committee on Ethics

16:47

is not a committee on

16:49

morality. Let's just be clear.

16:51

ethics in this sense are a set of

16:53

rules that someone put together, often

16:56

solving one problem at a time

16:58

not in a holistic complete way,

17:00

not updated to deal with kind

17:03

of modern realities. Yes.

17:05

You know, my frustration is I wanna earn

17:08

people's votes because they think I'm

17:10

fighting for them and they think I'm

17:11

delivering for them. But I'm

17:13

not allowed to show them

17:15

that What would be the reasoning behind

17:18

that? Has anybody ever asked

17:20

what that might be? What would

17:22

be the reason of not being

17:24

allowed to use footage of

17:26

yourself doing a job. I mean, I can use

17:28

footage of it on our show

17:30

for jokes. Why can't you

17:32

use it for persuasion.

17:34

The reason we're given

17:35

is that the capitol

17:38

building and the

17:39

cameras on us our

17:42

government resources, and we

17:44

can't use taxpayer

17:45

resources to get reelected. But

17:48

even Wait. Wait.

17:51

Wait. Wait. Wait. You

17:52

can't use taxpayer resources

17:55

to get elected. and yet incumbency

17:58

in and of itself is probably

18:00

the largest advantage that you could

18:02

possibly have. Correct.

18:02

So I think the argument that they

18:05

would make is that if

18:07

they let us use this footage,

18:09

it would give us an even bigger

18:11

incumbency advantage. Which I

18:13

understand, I you know, I beat an incumbent, so I get it. I

18:15

actually think we have too many people sitting around

18:17

Washington who have been there too long

18:19

in both parties. So

18:21

I wanna see challengers win,

18:23

not my challenger, but other people's

18:25

challenger sometimes. But I

18:26

do think there is a kind of problem here,

18:29

which is that you know, anybody

18:31

can shoot a commercial that shows this

18:33

hero shot. Right? You know what?

18:34

I just all of a sudden, I wanted to move to

18:36

California and move forward to that one. That hero shot.

18:39

doesn't put money in your pocket. It doesn't make for

18:41

a fair economy. It doesn't get you healthcare

18:43

when you need it. That's

18:45

the work that we do And

18:47

and so I think part of it is, you know, passing bills. You can

18:50

talk about that. But I I think it comes

18:52

from this idea that that the

18:54

footage, that the speaking to the

18:56

American public, isn't part of our

18:58

work. Our work is just

19:00

legislation, and I'm here to tell you it's both.

19:02

Because when you talk to Americans

19:04

straight about what's at

19:06

stake, build support for

19:08

the legislation that we're trying to

19:09

pass. Well, that so that brings up

19:12

the next point, which is, you know, you went on

19:14

the floor And

19:15

you did, I thought, a really

19:18

effective presentation about the

19:20

complexity of inflation. And

19:22

the fact that there were

19:24

prophets driving not

19:26

all of inflation. There's certainly supply chain

19:28

issues. There's certainly other things that are going on

19:30

the pandemic. but

19:33

you showed that corporate profit

19:36

taking was up drastically

19:38

and that that was a

19:40

significant driver

19:42

of inflation. The news

19:44

covers inflation twenty

19:46

four hours a day, seven days a week and

19:48

not without reason. But what I

19:50

was shocked about is that piece of

19:53

information that you laid out so

19:55

effectively made it to two

19:57

shows. I think Mehdi Hasan showed it, Lars O'Donnell

19:59

showed it, and I think there was an article

20:01

in Salon. And

20:03

other than that, It's

20:06

just the fear mongering over

20:09

inflation. And none of the

20:11

let's look at its component

20:14

parts. And is that

20:16

frustrating to you? And why

20:18

does that happen? Well,

20:19

it's super frustrating that we're

20:21

not trying to break down the actual problem

20:24

to show voters that we understand it. You can't resolve

20:26

a problem very well that you don't understand.

20:29

So I think part one we have to do is

20:31

we have to show voters One,

20:33

we accept inflation as a problem.

20:36

Two, here's where it's coming from.

20:38

We have access to experts. That was

20:40

a hearing where I had an expert who

20:42

had done a research study on

20:44

inflation. Mhmm. And so my job there

20:46

was to take his academic

20:48

study, I used to be an academic I know

20:50

that most academics can't talk to regular

20:52

people, so I was there to help

20:54

translate things like non

20:56

unit input costs into real English

20:59

for

20:59

people. My favorite kind of cost is the

21:01

nonunit input. Yeah. Exactly. And show them what

21:03

he was really talking about. what

21:05

his study found is that this he

21:07

compared this inflationary period

21:09

to pass

21:10

periods of inflation.

21:12

which is important. We can't use the same tools

21:14

of the past -- Right. -- if this inflation

21:16

is different than the past inflation.

21:19

Right? Correct. And so he looked, he compared, and he said this

21:21

inflationary period, over

21:23

half of the increase in what you're paying

21:25

for stuff. is

21:27

coming from corporate profits. Mhmm. And

21:29

in the past, that was about

21:31

ten percent of what was going on

21:34

in inflation. And

21:34

so the solutions to this inflation

21:36

are going to have to include

21:38

some new and different tools that

21:40

we've used to fight past

21:42

inflation. It's complex. It's complex. Inflation is

21:44

always complex. Anyone who says, and this is the

21:47

Republicans all day long. Inflation's

21:49

bad. No shit, Sherlock.

21:52

Of course, inflation's bad. I do go to

21:54

the grocery store. So that is not a

21:56

policy statement, by the way.

21:57

Congresswoman, put that in your commercial. That

21:59

you're you're allowed to use this footage. was

22:02

not paid for by taxpayers. I wanna

22:04

see you right now. Congresswoman Katie

22:06

Porter, no shit,

22:08

Sherlock. Let's get this done.

22:10

I

22:10

mean, that's all Republicans have to say, which is inflation is

22:12

bad. Well -- Yes. -- folks, we

22:14

we get that. I just bought Fritos

22:17

for four dollars and ninety nine

22:19

cents. I I spent ten dollars to feed these children free those

22:21

for crying out loud. Yeah. So I

22:23

get it, but the point is, what are you gonna do about

22:25

it? And you can't figure out what you're gonna do

22:28

about it. unless you understand it. And I think part of the

22:30

reason that Republicans and others don't

22:32

wanna look at

22:32

what's really driving this inflation is they don't

22:34

wanna stand up to big corporations. And

22:37

here's the part of that study that didn't get as much

22:39

attention, but is really important. The

22:43

companies, the areas, the industries,

22:46

where there's the biggest profit margin,

22:48

the biggest price gouging being tacked on

22:50

to what we're paying. Our

22:52

industries where there's almost

22:54

no competition. So the more

22:57

consolidated an industry is --

22:59

Mhmm. -- the less competition, the

23:01

more they're tax on that profit margin and

23:03

gouging us. So we have a

23:05

competition problem in our economy. No

23:07

rush. That means that we need to break

23:09

up monopolies We need to incentivize

23:11

pathways for smaller businesses and

23:13

midsize businesses to compete. I mean, we

23:15

have a bread monopoly in this

23:17

country for crying out loud. We

23:19

have a serial monopoly. It's not

23:22

just gas.

23:22

It's actually hard to think of an industry

23:25

-- Right. -- where we don't have

23:27

a monopoly. when you really start digging into

23:29

the data. And the

23:30

crazy thing is, you know, everybody likes to

23:32

talk about this idea that we have a

23:34

free market economy, but we clearly don't. We

23:36

have an intervention economy and the government picks winners and

23:38

losers all the time. And meanwhile, the

23:40

Fed turns a money hose

23:42

on corporate problems. But as soon

23:44

as you give stimulus checks to people,

23:47

starts running around and talking about, oh, this

23:49

can't happen. You know, Larry

23:51

Summers, God bless this

23:53

guy. He's

23:53

talking about, we need ten percent

23:56

unemployment to get this under control.

23:58

And and along the lines of

24:00

your notion, Sherlock, I would say this, fuck

24:03

that. Like, In the idea I'm

24:05

so glad you said that, so I didn't

24:07

have to. For god sakes,

24:09

the idea that the only way to

24:11

get inflation under control is to

24:14

make working people suffer

24:16

to ten percent and I wanna ask

24:18

you, their only reference point is

24:21

the seventies. We had stagflation.

24:23

There were issues. The Fed

24:26

apparently raised interest rates. They didn't raise a fast

24:28

enough poll poll or came in. and

24:30

save the day by plunging us into

24:32

a

24:32

a recession recession.

24:34

How in God's name can a

24:36

complex problems such as inflation?

24:39

only be solved by this

24:41

one dial we have on the stereo

24:43

called interest rates. And

24:45

how is it that you don't go sector

24:48

to sector? or anything else,

24:50

what is

24:50

this? So so I think part of this

24:53

is that Congress has and

24:55

even the White House I would say, although

24:57

this way, how's better than some others that --

24:59

Mhmm. -- has this tendency, politicians have

25:01

this tendency to say, oh, the economy,

25:04

that

25:04

that's someone else's problem. That's

25:07

that's just a free, you know, the

25:09

invisible hand in the market. I don't I don't

25:11

I can't do anything about that or

25:13

They say, oh, that's the Fed. Not us. Mhmm.

25:15

Well,

25:15

here's the

25:16

thing. I can think of very

25:19

little that I am in charge

25:21

of. other than people's core constitutional rights, which

25:23

by the way are also under attack. Right.

25:25

That is more important to

25:26

what voters asked me to do than to

25:29

deliver a strong Stable,

25:31

Globally competitive economy. I have

25:33

never met the voter who didn't want

25:36

that. Now, I was a bankruptcy

25:38

attorney before

25:38

I rang for Congress. Right. So I do

25:40

just find in a crappy economy, but

25:42

everybody else has trouble.

25:44

Right. So the strong, stable, globally

25:46

competitive economy is a core mission of

25:49

our Congress we need to take

25:51

that under advice, but we need to do something

25:53

about that. And so I think what a lot of

25:55

people say is, well, that's the Fed. Well, if you

25:57

say inflation is only

25:58

the responsibility of the Fed,

26:00

then the only tool

26:02

the Fed really has is the

26:04

interest rate dial. Right. The other tools like

26:07

stimulating competition, cracking

26:09

down on price gouging, building

26:11

a better apply chain --

26:13

Correct. -- those tools are with

26:15

Congress. And I wanna say, President Biden

26:17

and this Congress have

26:19

deployed some of those tools. they're

26:21

not

26:21

fast. They're not as fast as the

26:23

interest rate dial. Mhmm. Things like investing in

26:26

infrastructure. You have to actually build

26:28

it. You can't build it in

26:30

one second. you can, you know, rejuvenate

26:32

our supply chains and start building chips here

26:34

in the United States, and those things are

26:36

underway. They're not as fast as the interest

26:38

rate dial. And, you know, so

26:40

I think you have to use an approach of

26:42

both, but this is not the nineteen

26:44

seventies. It's

26:44

not. And interest rates are just

26:46

a giant cudgel. economy is

26:49

really different then. So my

26:51

question would be then, why

26:53

isn't there more of a concerted effort?

26:56

between government and industry to

26:58

publicly get together, to address what

27:00

is a national security issue,

27:03

inflation and poverty, and our

27:05

currency is a national security

27:07

issue. When that goes awry,

27:09

we lose power and strength.

27:12

Industry

27:12

doesn't want

27:14

to solve this problem. They don't

27:16

want

27:16

to solve inflation. They would rather

27:18

see a recession. Big corporations want

27:21

to

27:21

reap every bit of profit. And

27:23

that's who's benefiting. Big

27:25

corporations. Small businesses are having to

27:27

hold the line. to try extra cost. It's Because

27:29

all their costs are going up. They don't have a

27:32

cushion. Right. The bigger the

27:33

company, the bigger the market power,

27:36

Right. The more they're writing this trend, and we've seen this. Don't

27:38

believe me, listen to earnings calls in

27:40

your spare time. Listen to CEOs on

27:43

earnings calls. They

27:44

have said things

27:45

like If a little bit of inflation is

27:47

good for us, we think inflation means

27:49

we can continue to find our

27:51

price point at a higher

27:53

and higher place. Right. What does this mean

27:55

for the rest of us who are paying? It

27:58

means we're stretching our dollars farther and

28:00

farther and farther. So industry

28:03

isn't going they don't want a recession.

28:05

They want to take every dollar of profit

28:07

right up to the tipping point. And by

28:09

the way, if we do push into

28:11

a recession, they will be the first ones

28:13

in line to Congress with

28:15

their hands out for help.

28:16

The very first ones.

28:18

But that's my point. How is

28:20

it that they always are allowed to

28:22

get away with privatizing profit

28:25

and socializing losses? everybody

28:28

else pays the price for their losses, but

28:30

in the times where they're, you

28:32

know, profit taking, that's

28:34

privatized, that's shareholders, or even the

28:36

Fed turns on that quantitative easing

28:39

money pump and allows

28:41

them zero percent interest at the window and lets

28:43

them do and and turn it around and

28:45

buy treasuries you know,

28:46

that they turn around and get a one point five percent

28:48

profit on.

28:49

The whole system is geared to them,

28:51

and it's interesting. I was talking to one of your

28:53

colleagues, Rosa Delore, who was the head of

28:55

the Appropriations Committee, congresswoman

28:58

from Connecticut. And

29:00

she was discussing how Congress holds

29:03

the line on, you know, for instance, when they were

29:05

doing Medicare Advantage and they were

29:07

fighting with the Republicans and there were six

29:09

hundred lobbyists in

29:11

the building. but I think she was not cognizant

29:13

of what that sounded like

29:15

that, oh,

29:15

right, when

29:17

you're working, You're not

29:19

surrounded by those taxpayers that you

29:21

talk about. You're not surrounded by those families

29:23

that are struggling. You're surrounded

29:26

by

29:26

corporate lobbyists day in and day out

29:28

knocking on the door, greasing the

29:30

skids for more and more profit and

29:33

more consolidation.

29:34

Yeah. Well, speaking personally, I

29:37

don't have any time for those guys. And by

29:39

the way, they are mostly guys. I

29:41

don't take corporate pack money. I also don't

29:43

take lobbyists money. Right. So

29:45

I tell lobbyists the the same thing I

29:47

tell everybody. You wanna meet with me? Come

29:49

with an idea. Come with something to

29:51

teach me. Come with a problem that you

29:54

wanna show me. That you think

29:56

that you have a solution for, that we can work

29:58

together on a solution for. So

29:59

you know, I live

30:00

in Orange County. I fly back and forth when I'm

30:02

in Washington. Mhmm. I do probably

30:05

my best campaigning in my grocery

30:07

store. I don't think I've gotten more

30:09

votes anywhere that I have walk in

30:11

the aisles of my Albert since talking to

30:13

people. Right. So I do

30:15

think about

30:15

everyday voters all

30:17

the time, but there are a lot of forces in

30:19

Washington that are very, very noisy

30:22

for the Bags, big

30:24

health. big pharma, big oil. Right.

30:26

Big ag. If you could put a big in front of

30:28

it, you can also add lobbying to

30:31

that. and all of

30:32

those forces make a lot of noise. You know, we

30:34

we spend billions of dollars to subsidize these

30:37

oil companies, and then the shit hits

30:39

the fan and Saudi Arabia says they're gonna cut production and

30:41

then all this, you know, and they all talk about, I I

30:43

saw the bet you did on the

30:45

land that they have leased, that they're not

30:47

drilling on. because they don't want spend money

30:49

to to to refine because they're worried about when

30:51

a commodity goes down. But it's a manipulated

30:54

commodity by a cartel called

30:56

OPEC. Mhmm.

30:57

No. It's not a real market. Right.

30:59

We have lots of data that are are

31:01

not real markets. Let me give you another example.

31:03

Yeah. Health care. You

31:05

can't choose

31:06

who you wanna go see. It's it's

31:08

controlled and constrained by your healthcare company.

31:11

Mhmm. When you go, you can't

31:13

find out what it costs. Right.

31:15

So you can't shop on cost.

31:17

You can't get any data on quality.

31:20

So you can't shop on quality.

31:22

So there is no real market

31:25

for health care at the consumer level.

31:27

Right. And yet what

31:29

we hear is everyone should, you know,

31:31

we don't want to have nationalized healthcare. We don't

31:34

want to have government in our healthcare.

31:36

Well, look at the

31:38

alternative. Healthcare

31:38

can't follow a free market.

31:41

economy because if you have a heart

31:43

attack, you're

31:43

not gonna sir, can I help you? I'm

31:46

browsing. I'm just I'm browsing hospitals right

31:48

now. What's going on? a little bit of a heart attack right

31:50

now, but I wanna make sure that I comparison

31:52

shop. Like, healthcare is one of

31:54

those industries that

31:56

can't follow market structure because there's too many

31:59

contingencies that don't follow supply and

32:01

demand. Obsolete.

32:02

Too easily manipulate. And

32:04

so we we have to quit pretending and instead we have to

32:06

say -- Right. -- these are the

32:09

guardrails

32:10

we need in this market. So, you

32:13

know, I used to teach business laws. So --

32:15

Right. -- I am not afraid to go toe to toe

32:17

with Republicans to talk

32:18

about the economy. We're corporate leaders which

32:20

I've seen you. No. Or corporate leaders like, I mean, one

32:22

of my favorite things that a witness

32:25

ever said to me was when

32:26

I was questioning Steve Mnuchin

32:28

about his interpretation.

32:29

former secretary at the treasury about his

32:32

interpretation of a treasury policy

32:34

that they

32:35

were using to lift up

32:37

banks during the pandemic.

32:40

Yes. And he was

32:42

saying, no, that's not what the policy says.

32:44

And I was pushing back on him. And he

32:46

said, well, are you

32:48

a lawyer? Yes.

32:52

Yes. Steve, I am

32:54

a Harvard trained lawyer. You,

32:56

on the other hand, are a Trump

32:59

appointee. So let's go. Bring

33:01

it on. So Let's bring it

33:03

on. You know, I I just think that Democrat need

33:05

to really lean into the economy because

33:07

here's the straight facts.

33:08

Democrats, every

33:10

single

33:12

election every single cycle that we're in power.

33:15

We set the table and do the work of

33:17

building a strong economy. Mhmm.

33:20

And the corporate

33:21

interest scream as we're doing it.

33:23

They help elect

33:24

Republicans and and democrats who

33:26

a handful of democrats who will stand with

33:29

and then they take it all back.

33:31

So think about the things that Democrats

33:33

have done that are at risk in

33:35

this election. And what they would do to our

33:37

economy if we lost that? What if

33:39

we stopped all that infrastructure work

33:40

we've begun? Right? People would be

33:43

thrown out of work bridges and roads would

33:45

crumble. We would fall farther behind our

33:47

global competitors. Finally, tame

33:49

inflation. Katie, you're brilliant. What

33:51

have we

33:51

stopped the Chips and Science Act?

33:53

where if we stopped building all those

33:56

semiconductors. That would be terrible. We

33:58

would lose jobs. We would have worse supply chain

33:59

problems. It would threaten our national security.

34:02

all of that military equipment runs on semiconductors. We

34:04

have Why is that case not

34:06

being made? Look, I, this

34:10

election season, I have a television like everybody you're

34:12

following the

34:13

election in any way in between the,

34:15

you know, jeopardy tournament of

34:17

champion commercial breaks,

34:20

It's either

34:21

for prescription drugs because

34:24

I, the elderly, and watching television

34:26

at that time of night. And two,

34:29

It's Republican attacks on crime.

34:32

It is all about, I

34:34

mean, footage from YouTube of

34:36

guys with guns shooting people.

34:39

and

34:39

the democratic ads that

34:42

are in any way

34:43

answering to either

34:45

inflation or crime are

34:47

non existent and they have a case to be made.

34:48

Let's move into this because this is

34:51

something that really

34:53

bothers me. Republicans

34:56

talk

34:56

about crime and the fact

34:58

that it's out of control in these cities.

35:00

And they have never mentioned

35:04

once that the

35:04

reason is our cities

35:07

are flooded with

35:10

illegal guns. and Republican

35:12

legislators have made it

35:15

impossible for

35:16

police to

35:17

in any

35:20

way enforce the gun laws that even I'm not talking about homeownership. I'm not

35:22

talking about any of that. I'm talking about

35:24

the iron pipeline. You know,

35:26

Republicans are so

35:28

concerned about the

35:28

border. Well, what about the border from Florida and

35:31

Indiana that

35:32

are flooding illegal

35:34

guns into our cities? and

35:37

making it more dangerous for comps and

35:39

more dangerous for everybody. You

35:42

wanna get to

35:43

the source of

35:46

these crimes

35:47

Ain't Democrats.

35:48

It's Republicans making it

35:51

much harder to track illegal gun

35:53

sales. Making it much harder to

35:55

stop illegal gun sales. what the hell

35:57

is going on? And how do they take the moral high ground on

35:59

that?

35:59

Well, they shouldn't be. They should

36:01

not be taking the moral high ground for a

36:03

couple reasons. One,

36:06

The bills that they are attacking Democrats for passing

36:08

in the last two years contain

36:12

significant funding

36:14

for first responders for police departments. The resources

36:16

that we gave to counties

36:18

and to cities, most

36:21

police department saw that increase,

36:23

a significant increase in their budget

36:24

in the last couple of years. That was

36:27

done because Democrats voted for

36:29

those bills. We literally have been the party of trying

36:31

to make sure that our law enforcement has the

36:33

tools that it needs. But you are right.

36:35

They are battling uphill.

36:38

when we see gun laws being loosened

36:40

that allowed dangerous criminals

36:42

to possess guns and to

36:44

use guns to carry guns without

36:48

a permit That's right. You cannot be the party of crime at

36:50

the same time that you're arming

36:52

criminals. No.

36:52

They're allowing it. They're allowing

36:56

these pipelines. they're making it

36:58

so you can't sue these gun

37:00

manufacturers. I think there's five manufacturers that are

37:02

responsible for like half

37:04

the guns that are used in crimes.

37:06

And again, I can't stress this enough. This is not about

37:09

legal gun ownership. but

37:11

in their zeal to protect legal gun

37:14

ownership, they've removed the tools of law

37:16

enforcement to get illegal

37:18

guns off the streets. There was a

37:20

case recently I think they

37:22

just said that it was unconstitutional for you to penalize somebody

37:24

for removing serial numbers

37:27

off of guns.

37:29

lot of guns Imagine trying

37:31

to solve crimes and and a a political

37:33

party came

37:33

in and said, but you

37:35

can't use fingerprinting. and

37:37

you can't use DNA and

37:40

none

37:40

of this

37:41

camera

37:42

footage can be used either.

37:44

THAT'S WHAT THEY'VE WITH ENFORCING THE FLOOD OF GUNS. THERE IS

37:47

AN ARMs RACE IN AMERICA.

37:49

Reporter: ARMs RACE, JOE,

37:51

WHEN YOU TALK to

37:53

police officers and

37:54

law enforcement -- Mhmm. -- they will

37:55

tell you that this getting harder

37:58

and harder to prosecute these

38:00

crimes. It's getting more difficult, and it's getting

38:02

more difficult because of

38:04

the rise in unchecked and

38:06

unlawful gun sales. So

38:08

that's right. You know, there's no

38:10

problem with someone going through process, getting

38:12

a permit -- Right. -- taking the time getting the background. --

38:14

now they're making it that you don't even

38:16

need a process. But now they're making it that you don't

38:18

need

38:18

a permit. So they're literally taking away

38:21

the very best tools we have to keep our communities

38:23

safe, to keep our police officers

38:26

safe, as they do

38:28

their job. do

38:29

they have the balls to come out and say, we're the ones

38:31

that are gonna stop crime? You're

38:33

the ones that

38:35

escalated the violence

38:37

in our streets. Yeah.

38:38

Well, and one of the things that we see at the border too, by the

38:40

way, is I think that doesn't get talked about a

38:42

lot, is we actually see significant

38:45

flow of guns from

38:47

the United States into our

38:50

southern border. So we are actually

38:52

supplying They say

38:53

seventy percent of the cartel weaponry is

38:56

from the United States. That's right. So we

38:58

are

38:58

supplied. We're we're saying people shouldn't

39:00

come here. They should they you know, we don't want

39:02

the violins, the border.

39:05

We're we're arming those cartels that are men committing

39:08

violence in the Golden Triangle,

39:10

in Central America, in

39:12

Mexico. And

39:14

so We need when I talk about

39:16

border security, I talk about it being in both directions. We don't wanna

39:18

have fentanyl or dangerous weapons.

39:22

come to the United States. We also don't wanna be sending

39:24

them down there because we're we're

39:26

just deepening the border crisis and

39:28

causing more of a humanitarian crisis

39:30

one of the border crisis inside the

39:33

United States. Maybe if the if

39:35

we talked about undocumented guns,

39:38

maybe if we talked about stopping the

39:40

flow of undocumented guns

39:42

across the border of -- Alien

39:44

guns. -- Georgia of alien guns that

39:46

are that are coming across. I mean,

39:48

they're talking about fifty percent of the guns come

39:50

from just ten states. Yep. And

39:53

and these are illegal. I mean, you see it

39:55

in the streets all the time. to

39:58

deal with the fact that everybody's

40:00

got a gun now and they don't know where it's

40:02

coming from, so they have to militarize.

40:04

And this is

40:06

a cycle. that we've gotten this country not

40:08

from bail reform, but

40:11

from the laxity, there's

40:14

no ATF commissioner for God knows how long. I

40:16

mean, it it just shocks

40:18

me that the narrative is

40:20

never put

40:22

out there. that their inability to allow this country to

40:24

police the flow of illegal

40:26

guns over our borders

40:28

is

40:29

on them. Yeah.

40:30

And the other thing I'll way, talk crime, is they're not

40:32

telling you the whole story. They're telling you

40:35

the part of the story that that they

40:37

wanna tell,

40:37

which is that

40:40

we're actually seeing crime go up. Some kinds

40:42

of crime are going up. Some kinds of

40:44

crime are going down.

40:48

And so It's actually I think the the kind of

40:50

Republicans leaning into crime

40:52

is more of a playing

40:54

on anxiety

40:56

that people feel after the pandemic. There are areas.

40:58

There are types of crimes that are

41:00

But it is going. I mean,

41:01

it I think you'd

41:04

be hard press to convince people. There there are also areas of crime

41:06

that are going down.

41:06

Right. Well, I looked at this in Orange County before I

41:08

before we had this conversation, I did some looking.

41:10

So we're actually seeing property crimes

41:14

falling significantly. Right. But we have seen an

41:16

uptick in violent crime. And it's

41:18

it's about balancing it out. Now, obviously, violent crime

41:20

is is the is the most dangerous upsetting

41:23

kind of time. But our

41:25

police officers, you know, they are doing

41:27

a very, very good job. And I I think we

41:29

need to recognize that that they are working

41:31

really, really hard

41:32

WE MADE THEIR LIVES A LOT

41:34

MORE DANGEROUS. I DON'T THINK THERE'S ANY QUESTION. WE

41:36

MAKE THEIR

41:37

LIVES MORE DANGEROUS WHEN WE

41:39

ALLOW ILLEGAL GUNS

41:42

TO FLORISH. We make it harder. We make it more dangerous to the

41:44

police officer. And that is shameful because

41:46

these people are putting their lives on the line

41:48

for us. Why do you

41:50

think

41:50

that as far as I can tell, the only

41:52

issue that Democrats are running on our abortion

41:54

and not that it's not an incredibly important

41:56

issue, but I haven't seen one commercial

41:59

in my

41:59

area from Democrats that makes

42:02

those points that says,

42:04

how dare you talk

42:06

about

42:07

crime when you've enabled

42:09

this terrible scourge to affect

42:12

our cities. Yeah. How how

42:14

dare you? Yeah.

42:14

No, I think it's really important that we hold them

42:16

to account for their position on on guns. And we talk

42:19

a lot about gun violence prevention. in

42:22

Orange County. People, you know, I always say this jokingly, but it's

42:24

true. I mean, nobody moves to Irvine

42:27

for the nightlife. Nobody

42:30

I mean, you move here for the quality of life.

42:32

You move here because your kids are safe, you

42:34

move here, because we are a community that cares

42:36

about each other, because it is a safe

42:38

community. And when neighboring

42:40

states, places like Arizona or

42:42

Nevada or wherever, if they change

42:44

their gun laws, if the federal government

42:46

doesn't enforce federal gun laws, it

42:49

makes Californians less safe, and I think people

42:52

need to to see that that's part of what's

42:54

at stake in the control of Congress.

42:56

I think on some of these issues,

42:58

including abortion, and I think guns can

43:00

be another one. Here in states like California, people say, well,

43:02

abortion's legal in California.

43:04

We have good thoughtful good

43:07

thoughtful gun violence prevention laws

43:09

here in California. And that gives voters

43:11

an excuse to not lean in to

43:13

what's going on politically around

43:15

the country. But federal

43:17

law's supreme. There is

43:19

nothing that the governor

43:21

of California or the legislature

43:23

of California can do

43:26

on guns, on

43:27

abortion, on a whole host of other

43:30

issues, LGBT queue writes, if

43:32

we elect a Congress that

43:34

passes federal

43:36

that

43:36

take away those protections. So if Congress

43:38

passes a nationwide abortion ban,

43:40

it will be just that John

43:44

Nationwide, and it will

43:46

prevent Californians from having the

43:48

right to an abortion for example. Same thing

43:50

on guns. We have

43:52

some good thoughtful gun violence prevention laws here in

43:54

California. If we elect the Congress that

43:56

goes the other direction and

43:58

enables

43:59

gun violence, those

44:00

laws in California will no longer be enforced because

44:02

of the supremacy clause federal law

44:04

taking precedence over state law. And so

44:06

I do think have an issue in our

44:09

in, frankly, our quote unquote, I don't like this blue

44:11

state red state thing, but let me just say in

44:13

states that have Democratic legislatures or

44:15

Democratic governors, Oregon,

44:17

Washington, California, New Jersey.

44:20

These folks need to wake up and understand

44:22

that the Republicans are

44:25

threatening at the federal level to go

44:27

and undo the will

44:28

of the voters and the work of the

44:30

state legislators in keeping community safe.

44:32

And

44:33

if this independent state legislature gets the the supreme

44:35

court, it's it's going to be even worse.

44:37

But do you think we also don't

44:39

talk about enough the

44:41

idea that because you

44:42

just said it not red states, not blue states, but

44:44

the real divide in the country

44:46

seems to be between urban

44:49

areas, exurban areas, and rural areas. And to

44:51

be frank, those

44:54

areas do

44:56

have different concerns and sets of

44:58

reasonable distinctions when it

45:00

comes to crime or gun violence

45:03

or those different things. Each

45:06

area has a different set of

45:08

circumstances and a

45:10

larger piece of that isn't about just

45:13

talking about just the state versus another

45:15

state. It's city versus rural. It's

45:17

it's all the different divides that

45:19

come together and how do we

45:21

make our democracy more agile to

45:23

be able to address things. Like

45:25

you said earlier on, you said it,

45:27

I thought really, really

45:30

well. First, you've got to decide if you have a problem. And

45:32

you've got to find clarity on that problem.

45:34

And I think that

45:36

first step feels like it's

45:38

so missing from our from

45:40

our discourse. Well, so I think part of

45:42

this

45:42

starts with electing people who

45:46

actually listen to

45:46

their communities rather than

45:48

listen to big corporations. And

45:51

so whether it's rural or urban

45:53

or suburban, if you're electing who

45:56

are listening to their communities and they take those concerns to

45:58

Washington, you will see

45:59

policy that reflects

46:02

that. So Congress spends

46:04

an awful lot of time passing

46:06

bills that give tax subsidies to big

46:08

oil. Put an awful

46:10

lot of time You know, years and years

46:12

and years went by before Congress

46:14

did things that the vast majority

46:16

of Americans support congressional ban on

46:18

stock trading. BBB, everybody supports

46:21

that. Of course. Work you did

46:23

on making sure that we were doing right by

46:25

nine eleven and people who were hurting

46:27

that Americans

46:27

support that. We

46:29

are very very sometimes I

46:31

think slow to deliver on things

46:33

that Americans do agree on.

46:35

because we're too busy fighting about the stuff where they don't

46:38

agree. And that stuff matters

46:40

too. But I I just think the bigger

46:42

issue is

46:44

people not Coming to Washington with a clear sense of who

46:46

they're working for. Yeah.

46:47

If you don't come to Washington

46:49

with a backbone, you

46:51

sure as hell are not gonna find it in the halls of

46:53

congress? That's right. Nobody's gonna hand it to

46:55

you. You have to bring that fight to

46:57

Capitol Hill. Right. Well, listen, I it's it's been

46:59

incredible talking to you. I've really enjoyed it. I wish you the best in

47:01

that race. Congresswoman Katie Porter, thank you so much for

47:04

joining us. Really appreciate it.

47:06

Thank you.

47:07

She's

47:13

got the goods. just

47:15

such an

47:16

effective communicator. And

47:18

also for me having spent

47:20

a lot of time down there, there's

47:22

very few people that I meet that haven't

47:25

bought into the kool

47:27

Aid down there to some extent --

47:29

Totally. -- that haven't truly

47:32

become part of this

47:34

weird machine that's disassociated

47:36

from people. Boy, it's

47:38

refreshing to hear someone go. These people

47:40

are fucking in an ivory tower, and I'm down

47:43

here buying five dollar bags of fritos.

47:45

Fritos. And I want

47:47

this to stop. the backbone statement, I say this, Andy Cohen,

47:49

have a real housewives, have a real

47:52

house people, have a real congress

47:54

members of Orange County, because that

47:56

was so

47:58

clear. It was so clear. It was so direct. When she said the

48:00

Democrats seem to be the party of a good

48:02

economy, and they're scared to talk about inflation,

48:04

but she's not scared to talk

48:06

about it. No one else is

48:08

saying that. They're scared to talk about everything. And especially when

48:10

you have real information that

48:14

is not exculpatory. Certainly, if you

48:16

control the house and the senate and

48:18

and the executive, you're gonna

48:22

be responsible for whatever the economic conditions are, but you can

48:24

certainly do a better job of

48:26

explaining why those conditions exist.

48:28

And

48:29

it's like when she says

48:31

that it seems like, oh, very easy to understand. I was like, I think

48:33

we could all be talking like this. Why

48:35

don't they just call

48:37

everybody up? Like, Fucking Why

48:39

don't you make a show of, like, sit down

48:42

with Exxon and and and and

48:44

all these sort of

48:46

more monopolistic sectors

48:46

and say, hey, I got an idea. Why don't you guys just

48:48

say, like, we're gonna cut our profits ten

48:50

percent right now because the

48:52

American people are in pain.

48:56

and rather than force a recession on them, you

48:58

know, rather than

48:59

attack inflation by just making sure

49:01

no one needs anything and no one can

49:03

afford to demand

49:06

anything. We're gonna do that across the board

49:08

for America. Yes.

49:09

We could call

49:10

the show, hey, knock it off.

49:14

Well, John, that sounds too much that

49:16

sounds too close to right. Like, if you're

49:18

making too much sense. Sense?

49:22

It's it's unbelievable. Was there anything else you said that that caught your eye,

49:24

that caught your We can't use

49:27

the Seaspan footage in

49:29

our ads. That

49:30

is so weird. I mean,

49:33

imagine

49:33

you're not allowed to use, like, the security footage

49:35

at a seven eleven. Like that's Well, and

49:37

yet people can use fake

49:40

footage for their own commercials or

49:42

footage that's not even in their state of

49:44

crimes happening that are like, oh,

49:47

this is happening in your time.

49:48

Or have you ever seen those where they're, like, it's

49:50

it's stock footage of, like, children in

49:52

Ukraine that they're calling, like,

49:54

Right. Locals in California. Yeah. They can't even feed themselves. It's like

49:56

that's a war torn

49:57

country half around the world.

49:59

And yet you can't

50:01

use your own

50:03

It's very

50:03

And she said that. Everyone

50:06

that was listening, including you, was like,

50:08

that can't be right? She

50:09

even clarified that. She was

50:11

like, yes, the ethics committee, not the moral committee.

50:13

Well, even the idea and and again, we

50:15

sort of related it to and and but

50:17

you guys can still trade stocks on information you guys

50:19

Right. Yeah. About the yeah.

50:22

No. That that they won't touch, but Seaspan footage. Come

50:24

on. It does kind of make sense then,

50:26

because I used to wonder, like, why are all these

50:28

commercials dudes with like a

50:30

r fifteen's shooting

50:32

leaflets about Obamacare and you're like,

50:34

oh, because they can't use themselves at

50:37

work saying the dumb shit on the

50:39

floor of the Senate. or

50:41

the house? It's upsetting. Alexa,

50:44

it is upsetting. I want to

50:46

have that. The footage

50:48

that we are using right now Yeah.

50:50

You can use to run for right

50:52

over the year.

50:53

Oh my gosh.

50:54

Right over the year.

50:56

This footage is yours. No.

50:59

No. Do you understand, John? But my Twitter footprint,

51:01

as we discussed earlier, I can

51:03

never run for anything. Never

51:06

ever now. Look at the likes. Don't

51:08

find my bookmarks. Don't look at

51:10

my retweets. Just for those out

51:13

there, please don't cancel when we when we

51:15

talked about the m word jumping up on Twitter, that was also

51:17

me. I'm sorry. That was

51:20

me just tweet now fuck this

51:22

nigga. A lot

51:25

a lot. So this

51:27

has been good for you,

51:29

Jay. fucking my mother. Fuck his dad. His

51:31

fuck his dad fucked

51:33

his stepdaughter. He's

51:36

weird. What?

51:38

You haven't heard what did you

51:40

say? John. Elon Musk's

51:43

dad had sex with

51:45

his stepdaughter had a baby with her and

51:47

the response was, yeah, things

51:50

happen. Well, when you're when you're

51:52

billionaire, I think that's believe

51:54

that's just called a family complication.

51:56

For what?

51:57

When you own Emerald Mines,

51:59

I think, you know. Oh, yeah. Fuck him

52:01

for ruining my birth.

52:03

stone. Fuck him. him. Oh, this is this

52:06

goes way deeper than I ever thought. This

52:09

is astrological. No. Tour's gang.

52:11

What up? No. He fucked his

52:14

own, you know, his

52:16

own stepdaughter. Now let me ask

52:18

you this. See

52:19

a filmmaker? That was gonna

52:21

say. Alright, guys. As always.

52:24

familiar. Pleasure.

52:27

To talk

52:27

to everybody, I wanna thank congresswoman Katie Porter

52:29

of California for talking with us.

52:32

Thanks to Jay Jurd and Alexia Law office to check out the

52:34

province on Apple

52:36

TV plus We're back next week. I think on Friday

52:38

after the election to discuss the

52:40

election, and we're gonna have a not live

52:42

election special,

52:44

but show that we're

52:46

gonna tape after the

52:49

election to see if we

52:51

can turn it around quickly. on

52:53

Amazon. It's really it's really just a it's a

52:55

test. It's just a test. Yeah. Have you

52:57

ever tried to clean a

52:59

mess with a paper towel that then is soaked with the liquid

53:02

from the mess, and you go, they didn't do this in the

53:04

commercial. That's what it's

53:06

about. It's just like Exactly.

53:08

That's exactly what we're gonna try and

53:10

do. But great stuff, guys. And we'll see you

53:12

all next week. Bye

53:14

bye.

53:14

Bye.

53:24

The

53:26

problem with John

53:29

Stewart

53:30

podcast is an

53:32

Apple TV plus podcast and a

53:34

joint busboy

53:36

production.